Berberales.] 



FUMARIACE^. 



Order CLVIII. FUMARIACE.E.— Fumeworts. 



Fumariaceae, DC. Si/st. 2. 105. (18211; Prodr. 1. 125. (1824) ; Endl. Gen. p. 858; Meisner, p. 8. 



Diagnosis. — Berheral Exogens, ^oith irregular unsymmetrical fovjers^ parietal placentee, 

 and stamens opposite the petaU. 

 Herbaceous plants, with brittle stems and a watery juice. Leaves usually alternate, 

 multifid, often with tendrils. Flowers purple, white, or yellow. Sepals 2, deciduous. 



13 2 5 



Fig. CCCIY. 



Petals 4, cruciate, very irregular. Stamens 4, distinct, hypogynous, or 6, in 2 parcels, 

 opposite the outer petals, very seldom all separate ; anthers membranous, the outer of 

 each parcel 1-celled, the middle one 2-celled. Ovary free, I-celled ; o^Tiles horizontal, 

 amphitropal ; style filiform ; stigma with two or more points. Fi'uit various ; either an 

 indehiscent 1- or 2-seeded nut, or a 2-valved or succulent indehiscent polyspcrmous pod. 

 Seeds horizontal, shining, crested. Albumen fleshy. Embryo minute, out of the axis ; 

 in the indehiscent finiit straight ; in those which dehisce somewhat curved. 



Any one who compares Fumaria \\\\h. Epimedium, or Aceranthus with Hj'pecoum, 

 will see their very near resemblance, and thus will be led to admit, what at fii'st sight 

 seems inadmissible, the affinity of Fumeworts and Berberids. De Candolle remarks 

 that " Fumeworts are very near Poppies, on account of their two-leaved deciduous 

 calyx, of the structure of the fruit of those species in which it splits, and of their fleshy 

 albumen ; but they differ, firstly, in their juice being watery, instead of milky; secondly, 

 in their petals being usually iiTegular, and in adhering to each other ; thirdly, m their 



Fig. CCCIV.— Fumaria officinalis. 1. a flower seen from below ; 2. the same from the side ; 3. the 

 pistil, stamens, and a portion of the bagged upper petal ; 4. a parcel of anthers, inaccurately drawn, for 

 the two at the sides should be half anthers ; 5. the fruit. 



F F 2 



